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Red Sox’ Connelly Early shines in losing effort
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- Red Sox’ Connelly Early shines in losing effort
CINCINNATI — For someone who wasn’t expected to be part of the Red Sox ’ starting rotation at the beginning of the year, Connelly Early’s first outing was as good as anyone could have expected.
Early, originally ticketed for Worcester but inserted into the rotation when Ranger Suárez wasn’t sufficiently built up and Johan Oviedo experienced command issues, pitched into the sixth inning Sunday and was charged with just one run.
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Early blanked the Reds over the first five innings and was at 88 pitches. Under normal circumstances, that might have been enough, especially in the first week of the season. But because the Red Sox bullpen contributed almost seven innings in an extra-inning loss Saturday, Alex Cora needed to push his young lefty.
“Where we were pitching-wise, we needed that,” said Cora. “We don’t usually extend guys this early in the season. But he felt strong. He was strong all spring. I think (pitching coach Andrew Bailey) and the staff did an amazing job keeping him fresh. He did enough to give us a chance to win.
“It’s kind of early to put pressure on certain guys; third game of the season. We pushed him, but he was fine. I don’t think it was his stuff (that made his pitch count climb). I think the at-bats were really good. They fouled off a lot of good pitches. But he was able to get out of it. But that’s what he does.”
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Indeed, Early had just one true 1-2-3 inning. He stranded two runners in the first, used a double play ball to get out a jam in the second, worked around a walk and a wild pitch in the third and got another double play to extricate himself in the fourth.
The lone run charged to him came in his final frame. He was touched for a leadoff single by Matt McLain in the sixth and after a strikeout, was lifted at 96 pitches. Two hitters later, reliever Greg Weissert gave up an 0-and-2 three-run homer to Eugenio Suarez , the lone runs the Reds had on the afternoon.
“I thought I did a good job,” said Early. “They sprayed the ball a little bit here and there, but overall, I executed pretty well. Happy to get the first one out of the way. I think (the Reds) are an aggressive team and like to swing the bat. So, I was just trying to keep them off balance, mix pitches and use the defense behind me. Had a couple of double plays that were huge.”
Early said he wasn’t surprised when he was sent back out for the sixth, despite the 88 pitches thrown.
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“We’ve been building up all spring training, and with a little extra juice from the start of the season, I felt good going (back) out there,” Early said. “He asked me how I was doing and I was ready to take the ball again.”
The Sox challenged Early to get bigger and stronger over the season, the better to be positioned to go deeper into games. Sunday showed that the work he put in did the trick.
Cora has said the Red Sox will re-evaluate the rotation after a couple of turns through. After his first, Early has made the case to remain.
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